Landlords – Is it time to update your Energy Performance Certificate?

Is it time to update your Energy Performance Certificate?

The requirement to provide an EPC prior to marketing a property was introduced as part of the HIP (Home Information Pack) which came into force in August 2007. The HIP was always controversial and initial ideas for it to include a mandatory Home Condition Report were watered down before implementation. There was a good deal of opposition from many quarters for this as it would potentially slow the process down and incur additional expense to the seller. The HIP was in many ways an ill-fated attempt to make the process of buying a property easier and more transparent – it was suspended in May 2010 following a change in government.

Don’t you, forget about MEES…

The EPC part of the HIP remained as a mandatory requirement for marketing a property however and is still required when marketing a property for sale or let. There has been a further extension of legislation for rental property to meet a Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES) since April 2018 – for more information on this see our blog post ‘Focus on Lettings – What are MEES.’

Ten Year Validity

An energy performance certificate has a validity of ten years so it is now time to start checking your certificate to see when the expiration date is. If you have had a property which has been rented out for some time, it may be that your EPC is due to expire and needs to be updated. If you are not sure of the date or where the certificate is located, you can check for an available EPC certificate at (EPC Finder).

Don’t leave it too late…

If you do need to update your EPC, bear in mind that you may need to wait a couple of weeks to get a new certificate and that you will not be able to market your property without one. Ideally, this is not something you want to be trying to organise when you want to re-let the property.

Free rental health check

Private landlords have been targeted with a raft of new legislation over recent years and there are now more than 150 different rules and regulations which you must follow when letting property in the private sector. Failure to comply with some legislation is a criminal offence and can lead to heavy fines or even imprisonment. Our Lettings Department has extensive knowledge of relevant legislation, can provide EPC’s and current offer a free rental health check for landlords to ensure that they are complying. If you would like to take advantage of this offer, get in touch with our lettings department to book your health check now.